The Great Fire of London

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The Great Fire of London
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
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Fires in the 17th Century Pepys records 15 fires
in his diary in addition to the Great Fire.Most
houses in London had timber frames. They were
often high and were crammed together with little
if any space between. Heating was by fires and
lighting was by candles, whether rush, tallow or
beeswax. Everywhere there were flammable
materials - hay in stables, pitch and tar by the
river for ships and boats, wood in yards
everywhere, kindling in bakeries such as the one
where the Great Fire began.Fire fighters were
not organized and had often little more than
buckets and large syringes to spread the water.
More effective was gunpowder to force a fire
break and grappling irons to pull down thatch or
weak timbers.In January 1673, fire destroyed
Pepys own house, and in 1684 a later house was
saved only by having his neighbor's house blown
up.One of the results of these fires was that
insurance companies began to take some
responsibility for property loss and after about
1772 they established fire brigades. Houses
rebuilt after the Great Fire were built to
stricter regulations- which included brick
construction and improved water supplies.
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The fire destroyed about four-fifths of the city,
including roughly 13,200 houses, nearly 90 parish
churches, and nearly 50 livery company halls--in
all an area of more than 430 acres. In the
aftermath, Sir Christopher Wren, the great
architect, designed and oversaw the construction
of 49 new churches, as well as the new St. Paul's
Cathedral. Amazingly, the fire claimed only 16
lives and may actually have saved countless more.
After 5th September, the Black Plague, which had
ravished London since 1664, abruptly declined,
probably because so few of the rats that helped
to transmit the disease escaped the flames.
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Diary

• A record a person keeps of feelings, impressions,
  and events.
• Usually written for the writers eyes only.
• The Diary helped influence the rise of the novel.

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Samuel Pepys

• Samuel Pepys is the best known diarist of his
  day. Although he was a minor public official, his
  diary contains more details of his private life
  than of London politics. Still, his accounts of
  both the Black Death and the Great Fire show that
  he was less than in awe of persons holding high
  office.

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Step One

• Read Pepys biography on p. 544
• Read the diary on p. 546
• Keep a credibility chart as modeled on p. 545
• Answer questions 1-5, 7,8,10

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John Evelyn

• John Evelyn was an English writer best known for
  his diary, which, along with that of Samuel
  Pepys, provides us with our best glimpse into the
  social world of 17th century London. Evelyn was
  an ardent Royalist during the English Civil War,
  and held several minor offices after the
  Restoration.

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Looking at events from different perspectives.
New diary entries from Samuel Pepys.
Diary entries from John Evelyn
Newspaper article from the London Gazette,
September 3, 1966
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• Now that weve read the account of the Great Fire
  from different Perspectives, how do we perceive
  Samuel Pepys credibility (differently/the same)?
  

What does Pepys diary have that the others lack?
Especially the Gazette.
Was his account lacking important detail?
Did it seem more like an emotional response?
Do the facts match up?
Whose opinion/recount do you value the most?
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Critical Approach

• What were the social, cultural, historical
  influences upon the text(s)?
• What were some effective details about life in
  London in the time of Pepys that you picked up
  from the texts?
• If you had to take to perspective of a literary
  critic, which one would you chose, and what
  details would you use to support your argument?

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Constructed Response 14

• Explain how Samuel Pepys used stylistic elements
  (diction) to communicate his purpose.

BCR 5-8 sentences. A WELL constructed paragraph.
15-20 minutes
Introductory sentence (general)
POINT. What statement are you trying to
make/prove?
EXPLICIT DETAIL specific quote from text to
support POINT.
IMPLICIT DETAIL what is implied from the text.
The author uses stylistic elements to SAY
something WITHOUT spelling it out!
Concluding sentence wrap it up!
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Homework

• Create a diary entry of your own. First, make
  sure you include similar details as Pepys date,
  place, time, details, what you did, thoughts, and
  feelings.
• The diary entry itself should be about a place
  you visited, or a significant event you
  (physically) witnessed.
• Dont forget you need to pick a 2nd novel, and
  find a poem by April 17th!